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Kelsey McClellan’s Monochromatic Wardrobe Snacks

Jill Blackmore Evans

In photographer Kelsey McClellan’s series “Wardrobe Snacks,” she proves that accessorizing with snacks is a good look.

In her series Wardrobe Snacks, photographer Kelsey McClellan elevates the humble snack to new, unforeseen heights. For anyone who watched the infamous Tater Tot scene in Napoleon Dynamite and thought, “Seems like a good idea,” this work will definitely resonate. After all, who among us hasn’t thought of sneaking a hash brown into their pocket to save as an afternoon treat?

In this enigmatic photo series, San Francisco-based McClellan, working with prop stylist Michelle Maguire, pairs photogenic snacks with matching outfits. A pink pantsuit pops against a pink dessert wafer, while an all-beige look feels timeless next to a milky cup of coffee and a bland biscuit. With food photography’s growing popularity on Instagram and in arty culinary magazines, accessorizing with snacks is already become common practice.

Colorful smoothies and elegant macarons are the typical snacks of choice for the fashion-forward snack lover, though, not hamburgers and bags of chips. Juxtapozed against artfully styled outfits, McClellan’s junky snacks raise the question: what gives certain foods more accessory potential than others?